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Website Helps Compare Health Care Options

The Towanda News

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

A new website has been launched to promote patient safety and boost quality health care, according to the New York Public Interest Research Group.

New Yorkers for Patient & Family Empowerment, which joined with NYPIRG and the Center for Justice & Democracy, has started a website to help patients and their loved ones cope with an increasingly complex medical system.

“The website is designed for use by both patients and those who care about them,” said Suzanne Mattei, director of the initiative. “For example, it includes a link to an important, yet little-known program under the New York State Office for the Aging that helps many caregivers obtain respite services on a sliding scale fee. This program can provide temporary relief from the often exhausting efforts required to care for loved ones.”

The website provides telephone numbers for state agencies that receive and respond to complaints about hospitals, nursing homes, adult homes and managed care. It includes links to websites that allow consumers to compare patient safety information. The site furnishes other useful sources of information, such as the state Department of Financial Services’ website for comparing the performance of health insurers.

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The groups highlighted the website’s information on one of the campaign’s first efforts, which is to educate the public about the need for hospitals and nursing homes to provide equipment and training to their staff to avoid manual lifting of patients.

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